Tip #1: Communicate with teachers early! If things have been going smoothly for your child, you may be lulled into complacency and think that speaking with teachers during the first week of school is unnecessary or even overkill.

Having a child with TS affects the whole family: the child, each parent, the marriage, and the siblings. The effect on the siblings is often forgotten or overlooked. This article describes the impact that having a child with TS may have on their brothers and sisters, and what you as parents can do about it.

Many parents feel intimidated when talking to teachers and other education professionals. Teachers certainly have their areas of expertise after having worked with hundreds of students, but YOU are the expert in your child. Your observations and intuitions are valuable, and no one has spent as many hours with your child as you have! The …

Executive Function is a set of skills seated in the frontal lobe of the brain. It includes skills such as sequencing, planning, and organizing. Many children with ADHD have developmental delays in this area. But ADHD or no ADHD, organization, including time management, is not an innate skill; it must be taught. Consider yourself your …

Universal questions for parents raising a special needs child are “What will become of my child? What kind of life will he have? What can I do to help my child?” Providing a balance of support to our children along with tools for self-reliance is an art.We must support self-knowledge and self-advocacy for our children …

A parent recently wrote to me describing her wonderful working relationship with her son’s school: “I truly cannot say enough positive things about our experience within the xxx district. Along our journey each building principal/assistant principal/administrator has truly listened to our concerns and offered xxx the most optimal placement. Additionally, the professionalism and compassion of the teachers, …

I don’t know about you, but even though school has only recently begun and I’m still catching up on school supply purchases, my kids have already been barraged with worksheets, new books, index cards, and calculators to keep track of. Some kids (more often girls than boys) seem to be ‘naturally’ organized, but most need …

Write up an “Introduction to ____” (insert your child’s name here). Limit it to one page, no longer, or the teacher may not read it. This one page introduction should give the teacher a sense of your child as a whole child. The objective is to paint a picture of the “real” kid, not just …

Kids with ADHD are more likely to have writing problems such as poor spelling and grammar than their peers, suggests a new study. And the difference may be especially conspicuous in girls with ADHD. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/us-writing-problems-adhd-idUSTRE77L6QG20110822 Many kids with Tourette Syndrome also have co-morbid ADHD, but even those who don’t almost always have handwriting and writing …

Tip #1: Communicate with teachers early! If things have been going smoothly for your child, you may be lulled into complacency and think that speaking with teachers during the first week of school is unnecessary or even overkill.

Read this comprehensive report on The State of Learning Disabilities. It has national and state-by-state information on the education of our kids with LD. The picture is bleak. Boys in general, and particularly Hispanics and Blacks, are disproportionately diagnosed with Learning Disabilities (LD). Students with LD are on the receiving end of a disproportionate number …

Having a child with TS affects the whole family: the child, each parent, the marriage, and the siblings. The effect on the siblings is often forgotten or overlooked. I will offer an overview of the impact that having a child with TS may have on their brothers and sisters, and what you as parents can …